U.S. officials said Monday they seized $150 million connected to a scheme in which entities linked to Hezbollah allegedly used the U.S. financial system to launder money through West Africa and back to the group’s base of Lebanon.

The seizure stems from a civil lawsuit filed last year by federal prosecutors in Manhattan against defunct Lebanese Canadian Bank, or LCB, and two Lebanese exchange houses seeking more than $480 million in funds allegedly derived from drug trafficking and other criminal activity passing through the U.S. financial system.

The seizure was reported by The Wall Street Journal, and there’s more here.

Hezbollah is a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization. The group’s leadership has denied engaging in money laundering to finance its activity.

Prosecutors said Monday they seized $150 million from a New York correspondent account of Lebanon’s Banque Libano Francaise SAL, or BLF. Société Générale de Banque au Liban, which bought LCB in September 2011 for $580 million, paid for part of the transaction through BLF. The seized funds are substitutes for the money in the LCB account in escrow at BLF, prosecutors said.

The warrants to seize the funds were issued August 15, but made public Monday. Neither BLF nor Société Générale de Banque au Liban were accused of wrongdoing, prosecutors said.

7 Responses

Hope people realize that much of that kind of money goes to corrupt public officials. Ever wonder why there seems to be so many insane judgements in favor of islam? Want that location for a mosque. Just bribe the judge. Want to lecture students on islam, bribe the school officals etc. etc.

Yes this is also important to fight and end terrorism. From where and how these elements get money. The other way is to face this problem through ideology. Non-Arab Asia’s non-Arab Islam ie Hindu Islam of India is the KEY to meet this most dangerous threat. Hindu Islam is the REAL ISLAM; this Arab Islam is “for the Arab, by the Arab, of the Arab”.Its frame is only the Deserta Arabia, and nothing else.Let them do anything there,it is their own house.But they have no right to claim authority in other world which is not theirs’.
2000 soldiers have been killed in AfPak, huge number indeed.We salute these martyrs.AfPak is Old India.Let us search out the old great tradition of Hindu Islam which lies buried here.Just dig up a bit and we would find the old stream flowing there.This problem Hindu India is facing for last 1500 years, But thanks to the great HINDU word, India survived, otherwise it would have become 100% Islamic like Iran/Egypt/ and Syria.Hindu Resistance stopped this process.But even then Pakistan came into being as that whole part of India had become Muslim.Hindu Islam(the old stream)is the real Islam.Let us search it out.It is extremely tolerant and fully democratic/and not anti-West at all.Hindu Islam is the KEY to solve this problem. Please forgive me for repeating this always but I just cannot stop myself from saying this on and off.HINDU ISLAM is the real authentic Islam which is not Koranic but Vedic and its official language is not Arabic but Sanskrit, the great classical language of the East.Thanks.

There is no democratic Islam, Hindu or otherwise! It is an ideology derived from the pagan moon god whose name is actually Sin! Sin is known as the god of war hence Islam is a religion not of peace but of war. For there to be any true peace Islam itself must be destroyed.